UFC faces a dire risk if Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is delayed for too long, says heavyweight fighter and former NFL star Austen Lane

Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is a title unification clash that many in the MMA world are yearning to see, including one of their UFC heavyweight peers. Appearing on Bowks Talking Bouts, Austen Lane covered several subjects regarding his efforts within mixed martial arts as well as topical subjects in the combat sports world at large.

The former NFL standout turned surging UFC heavyweight even went as far as to describe Jones vs. Aspinall as probably the most anticipated fight you can name in the sport today. When asked if he foresees this heavyweight title unification bout being officially booked for this calendar year, Lane said:

"The longer you wait, the more you run the risk of it not being a great fight, right. Sometimes fights happen way too late whether it's boxing or MMA. You have a guy right now in Tom Aspinall who obviously is the guy. You have a guy in Jon Jones who it's still fresh in our minds of what exactly he did against Ciryl Gane, right."

"It's the old generation vs. the new generation and that story kind of sells itself if you will. So yeah, I think the fight does happen. Obviously I think it comes down to money. Listen that's gonna be above my pay grade of how much it's going to be and everything like that [laughs]. But I think eventually it's all about making the right fight, the great fights."

Check out Austen Lane's thoughts on the Jones vs. Aspinall situation below (18:38):

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Jon Jones looks like he's ducking Tom Aspinall, according to former UFC veteran

Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is something that Lane seemed optimistic about happening in the coming months, but some seem skeptical about this. That includes former UFC veteran and active UFC commentator Paul Felder, who recently spoke on the heavyweight title unification bout that still hangs in the air just out of our collective grasp.

The 37-year-old was recently accused of holding up the fight by Aspinall with Felder speaking to MMA Junkie on how nervous he is getting about this fight being booked especially with UFC 313 this weekend when Felder quipped,

"I think he's [Alex Pereira] going to get on the mic and say, 'I want to fight Jon Jones.' If that happens and he gets people enticed about it, then there's a chance maybe; you know how the UFC is. They want the biggest and best fights... That's a fight I would love to see but not when there's somebody like Tom Aspinall... It looks like he's [Jones'] ducking him."